WEST BRIDGEWATER, Mass., Nov. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Boston Biomedica, Inc. (Nasdaq: BBII) announced today that MdBio, Inc. has entered into an equity purchase agreement with BBI.
MdBio is a Maryland not-for-profit corporation that encourages the expansion of bioscience manufacturing in the State of Maryland. MdBio invests in bioscience enterprises to enhance their manufacturing capabilities under Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) compliant conditions, within the state of Maryland.
Boston Biomedica will use the proceeds from the investment by MdBio to support an upgrade of the manufacturing capabilities of BBI Biotech Research Laboratories, a BBI business unit located in Gaithersburg, Maryland. These improvements will allow Boston Biomedica to update the quality control program at BBI Biotech and to serve a greater variety of commercial clients, and will include the purchase of equipment to automate sample processing for nucleic acid testing - one of the fastest growing areas of laboratory medicine today.
C. Robert Eaton, MdBio's Executive Director said: "The enhancement of BBI Biotech's manufacturing capability is an important step in the company's evolution. We are pleased that MdBio's award will help Boston Biomedica accomplish this goal."
MdBio's equity purchase in Boston Biomedica, Inc. consists of 28,317 equity units, each comprised of one share of BBI common stock and one four- year warrant to purchase one additional share of BBI common stock at an exercise price of $10.
Mark Manak, Senior Vice President and General Manager of BBI Biotech said, "This award will help us upgrade our GMP capabilities for growing cultured virus stocks used in BBI's diagnostic controls product line, and for producing Western Blot and PCR assays for our BBI Clinical Laboratories unit. It is also our intention to move forward to ISO 9001 Certification of our Maryland facility, and this award will be a major factor in moving us faster toward that goal."
Boston Biomedica, Inc. is an infectious diseases management company providing products and services for the detection and treatment of infectious diseases such as AIDS, Lyme Disease, and Viral Hepatitis. The Company has four business units: (1) BBI Diagnostics, an ISO 9001 certified manufacturer and seller of quality control and other diagnostic products used to increase the accuracy of in-vitro diagnostic tests, (2) BBI Clinical Laboratories, a leading specialty infectious diseases testing laboratory, (3) BBI Biotech Research Laboratories, providing R&D support for the other BBI business units as well as contract research services for third parties, and (4) BBI Source Scientific, an ISO 9001 certified manufacturer of laboratory and diagnostic instrumentation. In addition, the Company is pursuing research and development programs in the areas of pressure cycling technology (PCT) and, via the establishment of Panacos Pharmaceuticals, Inc., in drug discovery, with the goal of introducing new solutions for the detection and treatment of infectious diseases.
Statements contained in this news release that state the Company's or management's intentions, hopes, beliefs, expectations or predictions of the future are "forward-looking" statements. It is important to note that the Company's actual results could differ materially from those projected in such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ from those projected include the possibility that due to unforeseen technical and other difficulties Boston Biomedica may not be able to successfully establish or maintain the improvement of the GMP manufacturing capabilities at BBI Biotech Research Laboratories mentioned above or such establishment may take longer than currently expected. Additional information concerning factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements is contained from time to time in the Company's SEC filings, including but not limited to the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 1998 and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 1999. Copies of this document may be obtained by contacting the Company or the SEC.
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SOURCE Boston Biomedica, Inc.
Web site: http: //www.bbii.com
CONTACT: Richard T. Schumacher, Pres. & CEO, or William R. Prather, M.D., Sr. VP Finance & Business Dvlp., of Boston Biomedica, Inc., 508-580-1900, or fax, 508-580-1110